Polina Kourakina fundamentally embraces the absolute power of the here and now. As an artist her music provides the listener with a tool to experience the intimacy of the present. Her ability to bring souls together, evolve, and create art on the spot is what makes her so very unique.
Perhaps it was her childhood move from Moscow, to Northern Virginia that provided Polina with a wealth experiences for which used to hone her craft into something that could effortlessly be embraced by so many people from seemingly endless walks of life. Or maybe it was her mother’s skillful interpretations of Russian piano music that enveloped her consciousness and wove itself into the very fabric of her existence. Or maybe, to put it simply, she is just that good.
For the last six years Polina Kourakina has been developing a sound. It’s a sound that when played solo has the power of a cannon or the softness of down, but when arranged for a small group has the intimacy of cabaret and the intricacy of a Faberge egg. Aptly title “Wanderlust,” Polina’s most recent offering is a musical journal of her travels through DC, San Diego, Dallas, Manhattan, and her home base of Cleveland, Ohio. At each stop she plays her music, never the same twice, and always in a state of evolution. With each performance her music grows just as all living art does.
Polina Kourakina masterfully combines jazz stylings and soulful vocalizations with intimacy of a folk singer. She captivates, impassions, arouses and excites. Either alone or with accompaniment, she has the power to grasp hold of the present moment and shape it like an artist does to clay. While philosophers may dispute the importance of events in our past or future, no one can argue that anything is more crucial or pertinent to each individual than the absolute present. For it is within the present that we reside exclusively. No one knows this more than Polina Kourakina.